Music In The Editing Room -- THE VOXEL THEORY

(From The Yahoo Avid User's Group)

Ultimately, listening or not listening to music from your
IPOD in the edit room is all about what works best for you individually.

There is no right or wrong here -- just what works.

That said, I believe Frank is correct about the brain not being able to truly multitask.

Recent research in neuroscience has given us THE VOXEL THEORY OF MIND.

Essentially, this say that the brain's conscious apprehension of external stimuli and it's responsiveness is contained within 48 VOXELS.

What does this even mean?

It means that the more complex a task, the more Voxels are dedicated to its activity.

Free climbing a mountain?
48 voxels.

Performing brain surgery?
45 voxels.

Channel surfing?
Around 12 voxels.

Driving a car?
Close to 45 voxels.
[Driving a car is a deceptively demanding activity for the brain.]

The research shows that you can not add voxels.

That is to say, if you are driving your car AND talking on the cell phone getting directions you do not ADD VOXELS, making a possible total of 60 voxels.

No. Uh-uh.

In fact, you start SPLITTING VOXELS (because 48 is the total number of voxels no matter what), meaning now you're only dedicating around 30 voxels to driving and the balance on talking on the phone -- which is why now you are much more likely to have an accident.

Because, remember, we're now talking about the QUALITY of the brain's attention to any of those tasks. In the case of driving and talking on the cell phone, the efficacy of performance of both tasks has been deeply compromised.

Conclusion?

The research suggests that if you're enjoying the ALLMAN BROTHERS while trying to cut A CIVIL WAR DOCUMENTARY then you're probably doing neither to the best of your ability.

There.

Splitting voxels.